摘要
The problem of fraud continues to plague the wine industry, and detecting cases where the original bottle has been refilled with an inferior vintage is especially difficult. A novel noninvasive procedure presented here relies on radiocarbon dating the so-called angel's share: the trace amounts of ethanol and other gases that diffuse into and through the cork as bottled wine ages and matures. These are collected by applying a vacuum to the top of the bottle and cryo-trapping the extracted gas, leaving the liquid contents untouched. Vintage verification is therefore possible without exposing the liquid contents to the atmosphere, which may render a bottle costing tens of thousands of dollars worthless for later resale and consumption. The method also has a potential for stable isotope ratio as well as chemical analysis to find indications for fraud or spoilage of fine and rare wines as well as other liquids with cork stoppers.
- 出版日期2015-9-1